The third day of the fifth session of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly on Friday resolved to urge the central government to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the interest of the state in particular and of the nation in general.
The House also reaffirmed its resolution passed on August 5, 2022 urging the Centre for establishment of a Manipur Population Commission and enforcement of NRC in the state.
The resolution was passed following a move made by MLA Leishiyo Keishing during a sole private member resolution during the sitting of the House.
However, none of the five opposition MLAs and also the 10 Kuki’s MLA demanding separate administration were present on the floor of the House while passing the resolution.
In protest against not listing the demand for considering the recent Kangla Declaration made by all the Meetei MLAs and MPs, the opposition MLAs walked out from the floor of the House, but still remained seated in the opposition’s lobby, showing support to the move for implementation of NRC.
According to the Congress MLAs, they walked out of the floor as the Speaker refused to enlist the demand for discussion on Kangla Declaration along with the move for implementation for NRC.
Before moving the resolution, MLA Leishiyo raised concerns on the issue of illegal immigrants faced by small states of India like Manipur.
He pointed out that due to the illegal immigrants in states like Manipur which has a population of around 31 lakhs and density of 128 individuals per square kilometres, it has become a great hurdle in resource management and schemes implementations.
Stressing the need to curb the issue which is a threat to the demographic of Manipur, he stated that NRC is a must for the overall interest of good governance and to ensure the well-being and rights of the indigenous citizens.
The move was also supported by members of the ruling and supporting parties including Chief Minister N Biren Singh, Minister Awangbow Newmai, MLAs Abdul Nasir, Sheikh Noorul Hassan, Th Shanti and L Rameshwar.
Giving his observation, chief minister Biren who is the leader of the House, alleged that the walking out of all the opposition MLAs seems to be a hint of not supporting the move and further alleged that the then Congress government, who himself was a part of it, for the issue of illegal immigrants in Manipur.
He stated that the state authority has been closely monitoring the entry of illegal immigrants and has been detecting and deporting them.
Tabling data on the rapid increase of new villages in some districts of Manipur since 2005, he lamented that there is more than 100 per cent growth of new villages in Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, Chandel and Tengnoupal districts.
Churachandpur district witnessed 560 new villages, Kangpokpi witnessed 542, Tengnoupal witnessed 258 and Chandel witnessed 296, which in total is 1,657 new villages, he informed.
Regarding the rapid increase of voters in some specific Assembly constituencies from 2012 to 2022, the chief minister tabled that Tengnoupal witnessed a spike of 41,952 from 30,423 voters, Saikul witnessed 26,573 from 20,989; Kangpokpi witnessed 25,235 from 17,025; Saitu witnessed 39,641 from 28,037, Tipaimuk witnessed 13,357 from 8,091; Henglep witnessed 27,398 from 17,439; Churachandpur from 47,935 from 30,147; Saikot witnessed 52,800 from 30,038 and Singhat witnessed 23,598 from 15,401.
Considering the need of NRC in Manipur to curb the issue of illegal immigrants and demographic imbalance, the chief minister has given his approval for passing the resolution moved by MLA Leishiyo for the implementation of NRC.
